Frankfurt/Hamburg/Boulder, Jan. 22, 2018 – A Bryan Cave corporate, venture capital and technology team from Frankfurt, Hamburg and Boulder (Colorado), led by Managing Partner Tobias Fenck (Germany) and Partner Mark Weakley (USA), advised the private equity and venture capital company LEA Partners on a seed financing-round in the amount of USD 2.8 million for the machine learning startup understand.ai. The company focusses on training and validation data for self-propelled vehicles and intends to drive growth in the United States through this investment.

DLA Piper has advised the property fund manager, Savills Investment Management, on the establishment of its new fund Nordic Fund III – Retail, and the fund's subsequent acquisition of four retail parks in Haparanda, Borlänge, Uppsala and Uddevalla in Sweden from IKEA Centres.

DLA Piper advised on the Swedish, German and English law in relation to the acquisition of the retail parks, as well as the financing of the acquisition.

Dentons advised Mediterrania Capital Partners on the acquisition, through its third fund (MC III) alongside DEG, Proparco and South Suez, of a stake in Travaux Généraux de Construction de Casablanca (TGCC) for an amount of €55 million. The investment is aimed at supporting the company’s expansion plans based on the growth trends in the construction sector in Morocco and Sub-Saharan Africa.

CASABLANCA –Allen & Overy advised Travaux Généraux de Construction de Casablanca (TGCC) on a MAD 550 million (approximately EUR 50 million) equity investment in its share capital by MC II Concrete Ltd (MC II), an investment vehicle of Mediterrania Capital Investment Fund.

Osborne Clarke has advised British entrepreneur and businessman, Jamie Waller, and his investment vehicle, on an investment into the car retail business of webuycarstoday.co.uk.

Jamie’s investment vehicle acquired a 45 per cent stake and he will join the business as a non-executive Chairman. The investment will enable the business to further develop its software solutions and enhance its vehicle buying capabilities.

Hill Dickinson’s Manchester corporate team has advised Waterland Private Equity on a multi-million pound investment in Gas Tag, the pioneering technology company.

The deal, which values Gas Tag at well in excess of £20 million, will enable the Liverpool-headquartered business to continue to scale up rapidly both within the UK and internationally.

In return for the investment, Waterland will gain a minority stake and two of its senior team will join the board of the company.

Mayer Brown JSM represented both Standard Chartered APR and Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) on the divestment of all 154 million of their shares in Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), one of Vietnam’s largest private sector banks. These shares represent 15% of ACB’s capital.

Standard Chartered APR sold 8.75% of ACB’s capital (approximately 90 million shares) to Estes Investment Ltd and Sather Gate Investment, while Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) sold its 6.25% stake (or 64 million shares) to Boardwalk South, Whistler Investment and Estes Investment.

PARIS (January 18, 2018) – International law firm McDermott Will & Emery has advised Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in connection with its participation in the reorganization of the French nuclear industry.

McDermott counseled Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in acquiring a minority stake in Framatome (formerly known as New NP), an entity that brings together the assets of the Areva group relating to the design, supply and sale of equipment, fuel assemblies and services for nuclear reactors.

Burges Salmon has advised the WPP on its procurement of an operator to establish and run a collective investment vehicle for the use of the LGPS funds in Wales.

A team of energy sector experts from Burges Salmon have advised Battery Energy Storage Solutions Ltd (BESS) on a deal to secure £28.5 million of debt funding from Santander Corporate and Commercial.